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STRATEGIC ANALYST - BLUE HAVEN INITIATIVES TEAM

at BLUE HAVEN INITIATIVE in

About the Job

Team Overview

While markets can scale many solutions, they cannot (and should not) do everything. A signature focus of Blue Haven is the in-house philanthropic portfolio, "Initiatives":http://www.bluehaveninitiative.com/portfolio/initiatives/. The Initiatives team closely collaborates with ecosystem partners to identify social and environmental challenges best served by grant capital, concessionary investment, or charitable donor collaborative projects.

The team deploys $3M to $5M annually in grants and philanthropic investments to nonprofits and early-stage companies with clear impact objectives, managing a vibrant portfolio of about 15 partners. The Initiatives strategy has supported impact investing and climate change field-building activities, as well as human capital and leadership development interventions. The portfolio is geographically concentrated in the US and Sub-Saharan Africa. Partners include: "Tipping Point Fund":https://tpfii.org/, "ImpactAssets":https://www.impactassets.org/, "VC Include":https://www.vcinclude.com/, "Boardroom Africa":https://theboardroomafrica.com/, "Apolitical Academy":https://www.apolitical.academy/, "Prime Coalition":https://primecoalition.org/, "Energy for Growth":https://www.energyforgrowth.org/, "Ampersand":https://www.ampersand.solar/, and "Third Derivative":https://third-derivative.org/.

Position Summary

Reporting directly to the Initiatives’ Manager and Blue Haven’s Co-Founder, the Strategic Analyst will help drive the team’s entire grantmaking process, from pipeline-building to due diligence and portfolio management. We believe there are significant growth opportunities for the Analyst to expand their skillset, begin serving as a key contributor to portfolio strategy, and gain exposure to a range of leaders in impact investing and international development, including foundations, accelerators, and think tanks.

The role is a full-time, remote position with an expected start of May or June. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. While the individual can live outside ET time zone, we require they work at least 6-hours per day overlapping with East Coast business hours (8 AM – 5 PM). The office is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with employees across the US. BHI operates as a remote workplace, offering location flexibility during and post-pandemic. Once travel becomes safe again, this individual can expect to travel 25% of the time, primarily in the US and East Africa. A detailed description of the position is included below:

Pipeline and due diligence

  • Coordinate and participate in introductory calls with new organizations seeking funding
  • Review grant proposals and prepare initial grant screens and memos to assess impact and viability
  • Present key findings, opportunities, and risks to Co-Founder, Manager, and external Advisor

Grant and philanthropic investment management

  • Support processing of grants, investments, and consulting contracts from a donor-advised fund
  • Lead quarterly outreach to grantees and gather portfolio impact and financial reporting
  • Update team budget and document meeting notes in Salesforce
  • Streamline and improve grantmaking processes on an ongoing basis

Relationship management

  • Serve as a point of contact for business partners, grantees, consultants, and co-funders
  • Convene and facilitate relationship-building opportunities between BHI and the ecosystem
  • Develop and maintain effective, cross-organizational relationships with different BHI teams (Civics, Operations, Ventures)

Strategy development

  • Conduct data-driven research on complex social and environmental challenges
  • Participate in brainstorming to inform portfolio strategy and impact hypotheses
  • Build high-quality deliverables to capture portfolio strategy (e.g., PPT presentations, reports)

Special projects

  • Help lead Catalytic capital investment portfolio alongside our Ventures Senior Associate
  • Serve as project manager when team launches new initiatives or partnerships (i.e., HR Leadership course, cash management strategy, employee donations, donor collaboratives, etc.)
  • Support Founder with Chief of Staff responsibilities, including panel and meeting preparation
  • Assist with knowledge capture and drafting of internal and publicly shared lessons learned

We’ve listed illustrative projects the Analyst may be involved in, as examples of daily activities:

  • Preparing a comprehensive impact report to capture critical portfolio-wide updates
  • Processing a philanthropic investment into an e-mobility startup
  • Supporting project management of a course focused on talent management for African startups
  • Drafting a blog on emerging business models and nonprofits focused on gig economy
  • Writing grant memos to assess a cleantech accelerator or new research on catalytic capital use cases